1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transporting wind turbine blades. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for transporting long airfoils via railroad using transport fixtures that employ blade position translation through dual rotational axes.
2. Description of the Related Art
The wind generation industry continues to experience growth, including growth in the scale of wind turbine generators. At the time of this writing, wind turbine blades having a length of fifty-five meters are being deployed, and greater lengths are known, and blade length will continue to increase as demands increase. This presents continuing challenges in the filed of logistics, particularly relating to the transport of large and long structures over various transportation modes and through existing infrastructure. Existing infrastructure presents limitations in the allowable clearance through which large and long loads must pass. For example, in the case of railroad transportation, railways present limited rail clearance profiles, which are specified according to the clearance width, clearance height, and other dimensions and capacities. These clearance profile limitations are exacerbated where particularly long structures must traverse curves and are presented with swing-out and overhang extremes that challenge the profile dimensions.
The inventors of the present disclosure have secured a number of US patents covering various aspects of transportation logistics related to wind turbine components. Among these are, by way of example:    U.S. Pat. No. 7,591,621 to Landrum et al. for Wind Turbine Blade Transportation System and Method, issued on Sep. 22, 2009, which presents techniques and fixtures using sliding supports to accommodate blade misalignment during transport.    U.S. Pat. No. 7,670,090 to Landrum et al. for Wind Turbine Blade Transportation System and Method, issued on Mar. 2, 2010, which presents techniques and fixtures using sling supports to accommodate blade misalignment during transport.    U.S. Pat. No. 8,142,120 to Landrum et al. for Large Tower Railroad Transportation System and Method, issued on Mar. 27, 2012, which presents techniques and fixtures for transporting large tower sections.    U.S. Pat. No. 8,366,361 to Landrum for Flange Assembly Railroad Transportation System and Method, issued on Feb. 5, 2013, which presents techniques and fixtures for transporting large flange assemblies.    U.S. Pat. No. 8,708,625 to Landrum et al. for Wind Turbine Blade Railroad Transportation System and Method, issued on Apr. 29, 2014, which presents techniques and fixtures applying gravity tensioning to straighten curved blades during transportation.
The content and disclosure of the foregoing patents are hereby incorporated by reference into the present disclosure.
The increased scale of wind turbine generators is driving the demand for even more creative fixtures and techniques for transporting wind turbine components. In addition, the increasing use of curved wind turbine blades creates additional challenges to logistics engineers. Thus it can be appreciated that there is a need in the art for a system and method to address the problems related to transportation of wind turbine blades, as well as other long and curved airfoil devices, via rail.